There was a time when I said I thought saving selvage edges from fabric and incorporating them into a quilt was just going too far. Well, this is the second time I have been playing with selvage edges so I guess I have proven myself wrong. Below is "Big Brown".
I have been saving the edges for a good while now. Last year, I sewed some of them to squares of fabric but have not done anything with them. I was on
"The Selvage Blog" a few days ago. There is a quilt on the sidebar that is called "Big Red". There is also a link to
"Online Quilt Museum". It was on this site that I saw a version called "Big Brown". The only difference in the two is that one has used red fabric and the other used brown. I pulled a piece of dark brown from stash and began working on the piece. I used a lot of the more interesting words from the selvage edges in the center part of the quilt though many are on the borders too. And I used lots of dotted sections. Have you noticed that the selvage edges on some of the fabrics have become more interesting? For instance, "Fruitcake" had colored bell shapes instead of the dots. Another had colored butterfly shapes. I hope to see more of this in the future. The older edges have just the manufacturer named on it. Later ones included combinations of the fabric line name and/or the designer's name. And some the year. I think the earliest edge year I had was from 1992. I set all the edges from reproduction fabrics to the side for using later on though a few made it into "Big Brown". The quilt was quite easy to make. Now it will be set aside to wait its turn for quilting.
A few days ago, I finished piecing "Monet's Wedding Ring" from Judy Martin's "Scraps" book. The book can be seen in my last post and is available from Amazon
here. Your local quilt shop would appreciate you purchasing it through them, so that is another option.
I had intentions of making the queen size version but ended up doing twin size. The quilt just seemed so busy to me. The size is 66 inches by 90 inches, if I remember correctly. So that is still good size. It involved lots of cutting and lots of sewing. Mr. Log Cabin is doing what he can by standing on a chair and holding the quilt top for the photo. I can tell you that the illusion of rings is better able to be seen in this little picture. Just looking at the quilt in person, I have a hard time seeing it. The design would be good made in lots of tiny florals, if you are so inclined.
It is late, so that's all for tonight.
Karen